1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to vehicular seats, and more particularly, to vehicular seats of a type which has a so-called "seatback inclining mechanism" by which the seatback is largely inclined forward to facilitate ingress and egress of a rear seat passenger of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to clarify the task of the present invention, one of conventional vehicular seats of the above-mentioned type will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawings.
As is seen from FIG. 3, the seat 1 shown has a reclining device 5 mounted thereto. The reclining device 5 includes a base plate 6 connected to one side portion of a seat cushion 2, and a pivotal arm 7 pivotally connected to the base plate 6. The pivotal arm 7 is secured to a side portion of a seatback 3. A known latch mechanism is in association with the pivotal arm 7 to latch the arm 7 at a desired angular position relative to the base plate 6.
The seat 1 has further a so-called "seatback inclining mechanism" which can largely incline the seatback 3 forward. Thus, such seat 1 is very convenient when used as a front seat (viz., driver's seat or assistant driver's seat) of a two-door type motor vehicle. In fact, the seatback 3 is inclined forward when a rear seat passenger intends to get on or off the vehicle.
As is best shown in FIG. 4, the seatback inclining mechanism comprises a pivot pin 8 through which the base plate 6 is pivotally connected to the seat cushion 2. A generally C-shaped latch member 12 is pivotally connected at its one end to a middle portion of the base plate 6 through a pivot pin 18. A striker 11 is secured to the side portion of the seat cushion 2, to which the other end of the latch member 12 is latchingly engageable, as shown. A spring (not shown) is arranged between the pivot pin 18 and the latch member 12 to bias the latch member 12 in a direction to achieve the engagement with the striker 11. A wire 14 extends from the latch member 12 upward to a cancel lever 16 which is provided at an upper portion of the seatback 3.
Usually, with an aid of the biasing force of the spring, the latch member 12 is latchingly engaged with the striker 11 thereby to latch the base plate 6 to the seat cushion 2. Thus, under this condition, the pivotal arm 7 of the reclining device 5 is only permitted to pivot relative to the latched base plate 6 for inclination of the seatback 3.
When the cancel lever 16 is manipulated to pull up the wire 14, the latch member 12 is disengaged from the striker 11. Thus, under this condition, the seatback 3 can be largely inclined forward together with the base plate 6 about the pivot pin 8.
However, due to the inherent construction of the seatback inclining mechanism, the conventional seat 1 has the following drawback.
That is, during cruising of the vehicle, the seat 1 tends to produce uncomfortable noises particularly at the portion where the latch member 12 and the striker 11 are engaged. In fact, during movement of the vehicle, the load applied to the seatback 3 by a seat occupant changes successively, which causes an inevitable play of the latch member 12 relative to the striker 11.